Wainwright Gymnastics Club kicks off competition season in Minnesota

The Wainwright Gymnastics Club paid a visit to Minneapolis, Minnesota for their first meet of the season, the Peppermint Twist Invitational, from December 1 to 4. The meet brought out 1,900 gymnasts from across the United States and Canada, and coach Mandi McMann says it was a great place for the girls to gain some experience before heading into the competition season in Alberta in the new year.

“It was our first competition of the year and it’s early for our girls to compete, so they did the best that we could’ve expected out of them. Seven out of the eight girls were competing at a new, higher level that they had never competed at before, so they were new at what they were doing. We’re proud of them and we thought they did really well,” said McMann.

“I think they’ve all come a long way for sure. In their respective levels they’re all doing what’s expected of them. It’s nice to see where we’re at and to have a starting point and then to get back into the gym and get to work so we can get to where we want to be.

There are some things that we need to clean up and we learned some stuff just watching other people. I talked to a few judges about things that we can work on, so that will help us and I think we’ll be more ready for our competition at the end of January.”

McMann says the trip was about more than just the meet and she was glad that the girls had an opportunity to travel and bond as a team.

“I think they had a great time and they bonded together really well. I think for a lot of them it’s the overall experience. The meet is part of it, but it’s not the only thing that we do. We like to show them stuff and get them to experience different things and have fun,” said McMann.

“Now that we’re back we’re focusing on our routines and cleaning up the things that we know we need to clean up. Nobody is learning new skills or anything right now, they have the skills, so it’s just focusing on perfecting them.”